Maximus Asia, a subsidiary of American company Maximus, has been appointed by Workforce Singapore (WSG) to provide free help to professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) who are looking for jobs.

The company started operations in Singapore on Monday (June 12).

It is the second foreign job placement agency appointed by the government under a two-year pilot scheme. The first agency, Ingeus, started operations in April.

In a statement on Monday, WSG said job seekers will be assigned to Maximus Asia or Ingeus, whom it calls career matching providers, "on a randomised basis".

The national jobs agency added: "Only unemployed PMET jobseekers who have been actively searching for jobs for at least three months or have been made redundant may be assigned to the career matching providers."

When asked many job seekers Ingeus has taken on and how many have found jobs, the WSG said: "We will not be giving an update on Ingeus at this point in time."

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It declined to disclose how much it is paying Maximus Asia and Ingeus to help Singaporeans find jobs, citing "contractual agreements".

It said previously that the providers will be paid based on actual placements made.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say first announced the move to bring in overseas providers in March, as part of several initiatives to better match out-of-work people to available jobs.

"They were selected because of their business focus on active job seekers - these are the workers who are actively looking for jobs - rather than passive job seekers where the jobs were looking for the workers," Mr Lim said about the two foreign companies in March.

Maximus Asia has 14 staff in total, of whom 12 are local. The two foreigners are here are advisers, the WSG said. One of the two foreigners is Ms Michelle Dimasi, who is the programme director here. Her profile at the company's website said that she previously worked in Maximus' Saudi Arabia office.

Maximus Asia could not be reached on Monday. Calls to its office at Westgate were routed to voicemail .